A Norwegian man bought $27 worth of Bitcoins back in 2009 and promptly forgot all about them. As the cryptocurrency became more popular, he was reminded of his minuscule electronic nest egg. After inspecting the contents of his Bitcoin wallet, Kristoffer Koch realized his initial $27 investment was now worth an incredible $886,000.

How is this possible? When Koch bought those Bitcoins in 2009 he was able to get 5,000 coins for $26.60 — they were only worth a fraction of a dollar each at the time. Then interest in Bitcoin exploded and the value shot up to as high as $266, eventually settling down to between $150 and $200 per Bitcoin. Despite all the recent uncertainty around Tor and the takedown of the Silk Road (which dealt in Bitcoin), the currency is still flying high.

That’s a lot of wealth, and Mr. Koch almost lost it for good in the digital abyss. He bought the original Bitcoins on a lark while researching his thesis on encryption. His Bitcoin wallet file then sat untouched for four years and he simply forgot the password. Without that, the coins tied up inside would be inaccessible. After some trial and error, he managed to figure out his old password and realize just how lucky he was.